Hebron, Mnaizel, Sansana (Meitar Crossing), South Hebron Hills

Place:

Hebron

South Hebron Hills

Sansana (Meitar Crossing)

Imnaizel

Observers:

Nili, Hagit (reporting); Translator: Charles K.

Feb-9-2015

Morning

10:00-14:00

Meitar crossing – it’s quiet when we go through.

Metzudot Yehuda crossing

We visit the school in Imnazil which appears clean and well-kept. The principal tells us about the 14 children from the Abu Kabayta family who go through the checkpoint daily. They have no problems on the way to school, but on the way back they must undergo a lengthy and tiring inspection.

The school is next to the separation fence below Beit Yattir, which the fence has included in Israel. The result has been theft of Palestinian land and moving the Green Line northward.

Signs announce construction of a new neighborhood in Beit Yattir.

Elsewhere in our area the fence is right on the Green Line. Part of the Green Line.

Hebron

Settlers have opened a restaurant in Beit Hameriva. We ran into Ofer Ohana there. Army and Yehuda battalion flags hang outside. All their flags hang inside also. Army-settler symbiosis.

Soldiers have come down from the pillbox above the Chabad cemetery and wander armed among the houses. They guard the cemetery and ask me whether we’re leading a tour…

Shuhada Street is decorated with Israeli flags, the remnants of the President’s official visit to open the new visitors’ center.

Ashmoret Yitzhak, the Border Police base next to the Giv’at Harsina neighborhood that adjoins the buildings of Kiryat Arba. (The press reported that the IDF intends to vacate the base, whose land will be used to enlarge Kiryat Arba.)

Two days ago a soldier there shot a Palestinian. According to the IDF, he tried to grab the soldier’s weapon.

Here’s what the residents told us. Occasionally Palestinians arrested elsewhere in the city by the Border Police are brought to the base and held until the police take them and they’re brought to the Ofer base for trial. The Palestinian who was shot arrived at the base at 17:30 in a squad car, handcuffed. They left him, handcuffed, in the booth at the entrance to the base, and at 20:00 he wanted to go out for a moment and the soldier shot him from about six meters away, maybe less. The photo shows the width of the road. And I ask, how could he grab the weapon if he was handcuffed? The Border Police soldiers on site today all told me, we weren’t here, we don’t know what happened…how unbearably itchy are their trigger fingers. The wounded Palestinian was taken to the hospital by a military ambulance.

These are the stones thrown on the road next to the worshippers’ route:

The vehicle in the middle of the road is Ofer’s, who doesn’t stop berating us and speaking extremely rudely. Nili hasn’t experienced it yet. I make a huge effort to remain calm and not reply.

Army units arrive. They don’t arrest anyone, the bystanders leave and soldiers remain. They’re from Golani, carry smoke grenades and equipment for dispersing demonstrations.

Location Description

Hebron

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According to Wye Plantation Accords (1997), Hebron is divided in two: H1 is under Palestinian Authority control, H2 is under Israeli control. In Hebron there are 170,000 Palestinian citizens, 60,000 of them in H2. Between the two areas are permanent checkpoints info-icon , manned at all hours, preventing Palestinian movement between them and controlling passage of permit holders such as teachers and schoolchildren. Some 800 Jews live in Avraham Avinu Quarter and Tel Rumeida, on Givat HaAvot and in the wholesale market.

Checkpoints observed in H2:

Bet Hameriva CP- manned with a pillbox
Kapisha quarter CP (the northern side of Zion axis) - manned with a pillbox
The 160 turn CP (the southern side of Zion axis) - manned with a pillbox
Avraham Avinu quarter - watch station
The pharmacy CP - checking inside a caravan with a magnometer
Tarpat (1929) CP - checking inside a caravan with a magnometer
Tel Rumeida CP - guarding station
Beit Hadassah CP - guarding station

Three checkpoints around the Tomb of the Patriarchs

Mar-27-2024

Michal Tsadik

Hebron - Smadar and Yusei Ja'bari

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Yata / Southern Hebron hills

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Yatta is a city located in the South Hebron Hills region. It is located in the border zone between the fertile area of Hebron and its surroundings and the desert of the Hebron Hills. Yatta has about 64,000 inhabitants. The surrounding villages are called Masafar Yatta (Yatta's daughter villages). Their inhabitants subsist on livestock and agriculture. Agriculture is possible only in small plots, especially near streams. Most of the area consists of rocky terraces.

Since the beginning of the 1980s, a number of settlements have been established on the agricultural land cultivated by the Palestinians in the South Hebron Hills region: Carmel, Maon, Susia, Masadot Yehuda, Othniel, and more. Since the settlements were established and Palestinians cultivation areas have been reduced; the residents of the South Hebron Hills have been suffering from harassment by the settlers. Attempts to evict and demolish houses have continued, along with the withholding of water and electricity. The military and police usually refrain from intervening in violent incidents between settlers and Palestinians do not enforce the law when it comes to the investigation of extensive violent Jewish settlers. The harassment in the South Hebron Hills includes attacking and attempting to burn residential tents, harassing dogs, harming herds, and preventing access to pastures.

There are several checkpoints in the South Hebron Hills, on Routes 317 and 60. In most of them, no military presence is apparent, but rather an array of pillboxes monitor the villages. Road blocks are frequently set up according to the settlers and the army's needs. These are located at the Zif Junction, the Dura-al Fawwar crossing, and the Sheep Junction at the southern entrance to Hebron.

Updated April 2022

Apr-25-2024

Michal Tsadik

Rahwa - the building they have a demolition order on

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Meitar

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Imnaizel

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Located below the settlement of Beit Yatir near the Beit Yatir / Metsadot Yehuda checkpointhe, this village is part of the Palestinian settlements in the southern Hebron Mountains.Amnesiel has a school for the children of the area, also children of two clans from the Abu Qabita tribe who remained on the Israeli side of the Separation fence, along with some of the agricultural lands of Amnesiel. The women of MachsomWatch are monitoring the Metzsadot Yehuda checkpoint, and are in contact with the Abu Qabita family. We receive from them reports of prevention of entry and transfer of necessary goods.

Sansana (Meitar Crossing)

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The checkpoint is located on the Green Line and serves as a border crossing between Israel and the West Bank. It is managed by the Border Crossing Authority of the Defense Ministry. It is comprised of sections for the transfer of goods as well as a vehicle checkpoint (intended for holders of blue identity cards, foreign nationals or diplomats and international organizations). Passing of Palestinians is prohibited, except for those with entry permits to Israel. Palestinians are permitted to cross on foot only. The crossing has a DCO (District Coordination Office), a customs unit, supervision, and a police unit.

In the last year, a breach has been opened in the fence, not far from the crossing. This breach is known to all, including the army. There does not appear to be any interest in blocking it, probably as it permits needed Palestinian workers without the bureaucratic permits to get to work in Israel. Food stalls and a parking area economy have been created, but incidents of violent abuse by border police have also been recorded.

Updated April 2022